


Something For a Friend

by TitanFodder



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-02
Updated: 2015-04-02
Packaged: 2018-03-20 21:41:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3666207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TitanFodder/pseuds/TitanFodder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I do not own any ideas, plot, characters, or franchise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something For a Friend

I met him a while ago. Probably further back than what he remembered. The day had been chilly, with a light frost covering the ground that I hadn’t even had the chance to notice as I jolted down the street. I had overslept; the night before consisted of a case of beer and a need to decorate the house with tinsel and various Christmas decals. The hangover I had felt tis’morning had kept me in bed for almost two hours over the time I had planned on getting up, and apparently my alarm clock had been going off since then. And after I scrambled to get my shoes on and get out the door, I realized that I left my alarm clock on, of all things, but keep going anyway, not turning back to shut it off (later in the day I had receive a scathing email from my roommate about it). 

Anyway, I continued running down the streets, oblivious to everything around me, and that had included the tall man that I had run into. The impact hurt a bit but when I fell the bigger man’s body had padded my fall. “Oh gosh I’m so sorry, let me help you up. I’m Grey A., first class author.” … Was what I would have normally said. But as I got back up to my feet and picked up my papers, it came out as, “Sorry. In a hurry.” And I sprinted down the street once again, leaving the man on the ground.

The publisher’s office was only a block away. I had rushed in, only eleven minutes late, and luckily my editor and publisher had been willing to see me and review my latest story.

About an hour later I had walked out, my editor following and laughing a bit at my casual happy-go-lucky attitude. “Well that was certainly a story worth reading.” He chuckled in a little attempt to stop the laughing. “I’d love to take you out for coffee sometime.” He brushed his jacket off as if to get rid of his smile in that manner. “How about you head up to the lobby’s café and have a cup on my tab? My treat.” 

“I’d like that, thank you.” As he headed back in, I looked up at the tall building, which was at least fifteen stories tall, and wondered to myself if he had been flirting. I had no particular feelings for anyone beyond simple friendship right now, and honestly it seemed the easiest to just have friends. 

I went back inside and got in the elevator, and pressed the button to take me to the thirteenth floor, but I quirked an eyebrow as the elevator stopped at the fifth floor. When the door opened, a girl about a foot shorter than me, with long blonde hair and glasses, stepped inside and stood next to me.

“Do you mind clicking the ninth floor button please?” She said softly. 

“Of course.” I hit the button as the door closed once again. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you around here before…”

“Well, first time I’ve ever written anything I’ve wanted published…” She smiled at me gently. “I know I’ve seen you before though. Grey, is it?”

“Yeah… you know me?”

“Of course. I love your work. Oh, since you’re here…” She put one hand in her book bag. “May I have an autograph?”

“Absolutely.” I smiled as she handed me a pen and her copy of a book I had written a while ago, called ‘And I’m Doing Just Fine’. 

She smiled as I scribbled down a small note and my name on the inside cover and handed it back just as the elevator reached her floor. “Thank you sir~” She took the book and the pen and skipped out and down the hall. 

Sad… I never even got her name… I thought as the elevator finally got to the lobby floor and I stepped out to go to the café area. If she works here I can figure it out soon. I ordered a simple coffee, nothing added, in the hopes of it helping me to wake up a little more. I stood by the large window wall and gazed out, but my gaze was soon shattered by a rough voice and the fact that the man I had been looking at now appeared to be the same one I had hit in the street just earlier that day. 

“The view from here is nice isn’t it?” He said as he snapped a picture of the world below the window.

I swallowed coarsely. “I am SO sorry for what happened earlier—“ Even though he didn’t bring it up the fact that I had slammed him down on the pavement just earlier that day, I still felt bad about it.

“It’s fine. I know this is a demanding job and editors don’t have much patience…” He looked around, taking pictures of various things. “It goes without saying though, doesn’t it? How jobs like ours are looked over very often though they can be the hardest spots to fill?” He turned back to me and pulled his photo-id out of his jacket and showed it to me. “You must be Mr. Anderton. I recognize you from the author’s notes in the books you’ve written.”

I said almost nothing as I looked at his id. ‘Basch Fon Ronsenburg’, it read. ‘Press Journalist for Shinra Electric-Power Company’. I knew I recognized him from somewhere. I was a big fan of his work, since he covered all of the sauciest stories ranging from local celebrities to great restaurants to how to find the perfect mate.

“I’m a big fan of your work you know.” He pulled a strand of his hair behind his ear and looked back out the window. 

I continued to say nothing, but my thoughts were all over the place. When I was invited up here for coffee…

“Perhaps we can talk about your authorial success over a couple beers later. I’m looking for the next big thing after all.” He said loosely as if I was a god, but at the same time just a common man, with a small smile. 

I nodded as he turned to leave. “Of course.”  
I sat in the booth across from him, my head in my hands, having had too much to drink already. We hadn’t been here for any longer than an hour and I was already drunk as hell. And my thoughts once again had been in different places.

“You know, Basch, I started reading your articles when I was in Jr. High… exactly how old are you?”

He laughed a little bit. “How old do I look?”

“Ummmm… twenty-one?”

He shook his head with a chuckle. “I’m flattered but no.” Then he made a three with one hand and a two with the other. Thirty-two years old.

I blinked. I honestly thought he was younger. But then again… I’m drunk.

The waiter came by and Basch ordered another round of alcohol. 

“I don’t think I can drink anymore… I’ve never drank this much in my life…” I hit my head on the table.

“Come now, tomorrow is Saturday, it doesn’t hurt to drink a little too much on a weekend.”

I couldn’t argue with that logic.

The night air made an attempt to sober me up, but only succeeded about eighty percent of the way. A light buzz had indeed been buzzing in the back of my head, but this was nothing new to me. I was sitting in the passenger’s side of Basch’s truck, as one of us had suggested a cup of coffee at his place to sober up. It might have been me. But first we had stopped at a gas station.

“I just need to fill the tank before tomorrow. Do you mind?” He stopped the truck at a pump and looked at me.

“Nah it’s fine.” I said with a small smile. 

There was only one, maybe two other people there with vehicles. Of course, I normally wouldn’t have thought anything of this. I put my elbow on the door a little, the window opened to the cool night air. That ended quickly when a man walked up to the truck and glared at me.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I had no idea why he was pissed at me, but before long he had punched me right in the face. To this day I still had no clue why.

Basch saw this and got out of the driver’s side, walking over to the man who had hit me with a menacing look on his face. The man stood back a little, eyes widened slightly at the realization of who was there with me. 

“What did you do that for?” Basch growled at him, his fists clenched at his sides.

The man stepped back a bit. “I’m so sorry I thought he was someone else—“ He stuttered an awful lot for someone who had the balls to hit someone for no better reason than the fact that he thought it was another guy.

“No excuses.” Basch raised his fist and knocked him into the wall of the convenience store with one hit. I stared a little in horror, not sure whether to feel glad that Basch stood up for me, or to be glad that the man crumpled to the ground like yesterday’s newspaper. I watched Basch get back in the vehicle, not even caring about getting gas anymore, just starting the truck and leaving the scene. “I don’t need it that badly.” He grumbled a bit to himself. “You okay?”

I put one hand on my face where I’d been hit. “Yeah… I’m fine.”

We entered his apartment in silence. I don’t believe either of us had anything to say after that incident, although we had someone clicked. It felt almost like we knew what was going on in each other’s mind, thus eliminating the need for words. I sat on the couch while he was in the kitchen making coffee, the thought of that previous event just reeling in my mind over and over again. Basch was strong, but he didn’t seem like the protective type. It’s true when they say to never judge a book by its cover.

I looked up at him as he set a mug down in front of my on the coffee table and sat next to me. His eyes seemed locked on the bruise that gradually appeared on my face, as if it was something that had been entirely preventable. 

“You sure you’re okay?”

“I told you, I’m fine. I’m a big boy you know.” I said as I picked up the ceramic cup and took a sip. 

“Just wanted to be sure…” He mumbled a little under his breath, his eyes locked down on his coffee now.

“You seem way too concerned for someone I just met earlier today…” I leaned back against the cushions, relaxing a bit.

“Well you seem different to me. Different in a good way.” He stood once again. “I have to get changed…” He undid a few buttons on his shirt. “Did you need a ride home or would you rather bunk on the couch here for the night?” Before I could answer, he started talking again. “Never mind, you’ll stay here. Don’t need something happening to you that I can’t help.” His back was turned to me as he finished getting his shirt off. I almost drooled on myself looking at all his muscles. He was, indeed, a beautiful man. 

I didn’t realize I was staring until Basch turned around “Are you alright?”

I stood up myself, walking over to him, still almost completely focused on the bigger man. Does it… does it have to be a woman? I thought and I bit my lip, now chest to chest with the other. Can we…? I put both hands on his chest and a light pink blush dusted my cheeks. “I’m…” 

Basch was amazing at picking up different cues, even the ones that didn’t necessarily exist. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pecked me lightly on the lips. My face was bright red now and he pushed me against the couch gently, his lips moving along my neck and his hands on my arms moving down to my stomach. He locked lips with me for a long while, breaking only once for air before descending back on them. I felt his hands on my shirt, undoing the buttons, and I suddenly got a very nervous feeling. What if he sees my…

He pulled my shirt off my body and looked at me really shocked-like. I put one of my arms over my chest and I wiggled out of the other’s grip, almost falling off the couch altogether, and ran straight for the door, forgetting my shirt and the fact that he’d just seen all of my scars, front and back if he had watched me leaving. I sprinted home, almost in tears just because of that. I had no reason to cry, there was no explanation at all, yet there were tears there, rolling down my cheeks as I slammed the door of my home shut. This night was just a complete wreck to me. 

It was hard for me to sleep, but after I did I found myself sleeping over the time I should have. I wish I wouldn’t have gone out for those drinks last night. Not only was I paying for it physically, with the light sensitive eyes and the pounding headache, but also my heart felt crippled from what happened. The way he looked at me… was it disgust? It didn’t seem like that, but who knows. It probably was. I’ve always had these scars and they grew more unattractive by the day. I hate it.

I got up and shut my alarm off, putting on very concealing clothes for the day and did my best to just keep it cool. When I had arrived at work, everyone there had seemed the same. Concealed. If it hadn’t been for all the Christmas decorating they had been doing, I would swear everyone here had endured the same thing I had. I tucked my face in my shirt slightly as I had seen Basch approach me. This was something I didn’t want to deal with right now. I made a beeline for the elevator trying to not raise suspicion in the hopes of losing the other but when worst came to worst, he had gotten in with me and hit the button to the top floor. He just wouldn’t let this go.

“Why are you trying so hard to avoid me, you haven’t been here for more than five minutes and you’re trying to run away.” He grabbed his bag and pulled out my shirt from last night. “You… left this.”

I scowled and quickly snatched the shirt from him. There was nothing much I could do about the fact that we were stuck together in the elevator for what felt like a hundred floors, but I tried my hardest to just ignore him in every way possible. He gave me an extremely frustrated look but I simply glared at him with my arms crossed over my apparently ugly scar-ridden chest. 

He sighed and hit the emergency stop button with a bit of force.

I clenched my fists tightly at my side. “What the actual hell Basch—“ I moved to hit the button again but he grabbed my wrist and pushed me against the wall into the corner. My first instinct had been to struggle a bit. “Let me go, I have work to do.”

“Not until you talk to me.” Basch’s body was pressed against mine as to keep me from moving around too much. “What happened last night? Why did you leave?”

I frowned at him. “Why else do you think? You saw how I look and you looked absolutely sickened by it!” 

“I didn’t s—“

“You think I’m repulsive! You’re just like everyone else!!” 

“You’re just like everyone else!!”

That struck Basch’s nerve a little.

I easily pushed him away from me and hit the button to the closet floor I could get off on, which happened to be floor five. I left him in the elevator and honestly I didn’t care. He shouldn’t have had the nerve to just corner me like that. 

I walked into one of the offices I had been instructed to go to and looked at the man behind the desk who had been typing away as a woman stood behind him giving him writing suggestions. 

The man looked up at me. “Ah, Mr. Anderton, I see you received my message.” I had gotten it like a week in advance. “I would like to introduce you to Miss Karena.” He waved a hand towards the woman and she simply smiled. “She will be your new editor, seeing as yours is retiring this week.”

“Hi, nice to meet you.” I held my hand out to shake hers. 

“Pleasure’s all mine.” She blushed a light pink and squeezed my hand a little. 

The man stood up. “I’m glad you two seem to be getting along. Perhaps you should spend a bit of time to just get to know each other this afternoon and worry about writing tomorrow.”

“That would be nice…” I let go of her hand.

“We’ll go to my workplace, it’s big.” She stepped to the door and I followed closely behind the whole time we walked to her office. The fifth floor seemed to be a lot bigger than I had imagined. 

“So…” She unlocked the door. “Did you run into any trouble today or maybe yesterday? You seem tense and a bit flustered.”

“A little…” I wasn’t sure how to feel about just telling her things about myself just yet.

“Want to talk about it? You don’t have to if you don’t want to…” She walked in and motioned for me to follow. 

“Well… let’s say something happened that usually always happens but this time it hurt a whole lot more than it usually does.” I looked around at the massive room with a big desk and chair and a huge couch that looked like if I sat on it I’d sink about a foot into it. It was classy yet tranquil and calm at the same time.

“Ah, I know what that’s like.” She chuckled a little and sat her things down on the desk. “May I ask what happened?”

I sat down on the couch, which was surprisingly robust than what I thought it would be. “That man, Basch, had seen a part of me that I don’t show to many people and he found it to be nauseating. “

She nodded a little bit. “Basch didn’t strike me as that sort of man… perhaps you misunderstood his signals?”

“I doubt it. I’ve been given the same look from all my partners since I was seventeen…” 

“Hmm… Well we can talk more in a moment. I need a drink. You like anything in particular? I have all different types of pop, coffee, a few wine coolers…” She moved towards the door on the wall that appeared to not even be there until she opened it. 

“A diet coke please, if you have it.” I blinked. I honestly didn’t notice that door to another room.

“Of course.” She called back to me.

“With lime and crushed ice please.” I added, hoping I wasn’t pushing it.

“Alright, I think I can manage that.” She chuckled and I heard what sounded like her setting things down on the counter. “You have to do me a little favor though.”

“Of course.”

“Well…” She came back with two glasses, one being my coke and the other being her cherry limeade. “I tend to work overtime an awful lot. And there’s this rumor that I pretty much live in my office. So please… no talking about my secret room in here. The only other people who know about it is the boss-man and the owner of the building, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.”

I had to laugh at that. “I’ll remember that.” I took the glass and smiled. 

“So anyway, you were saying…?” She motioned for me to continue my story.

I hesitated a little bit but she was pretty trustworthy. “Last night Basch and I had gone out for a few drinks, and somehow we had ended up at his place making out…”

She pressed her lips in a firm line as she listened. Clearly she was trying to hide the fact that she found two men making out very hot.

“And, well, he took my shirt off and saw that I was covered in scars, and-“

“How did you get the scars?” She asked but then shook her head. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“It’s fine, if you want to know, but I would appreciate it if you keep this between us, alright?”

“Yes, naturally.”

“Well, when I was younger… my dad, he beat me till I was almost dead. A lot of these scars are from that…” I choked a bit. I couldn’t continue telling her this. I looked down, but looked back to her when I felt her hand pat my back.

“That can be rough… I’m sorry you had to go through that.” She said, her voice laced with genuine concern.

“It’s alright now… I mean that was years ago.” I sighed heavily. “Anyway, Basch saw them and, well…”

“That’s where he gave you those looks, huh?” She moved her arm around me a little further and squeezed me in a side hug gently.

“Yep.” I looked down.

She said nothing, just kind of held me. I grabbed the glass she gave me and took a few sips in silence, looking around the room just thinking about what was going on when she spoke again.

“I need to have a talk with that man anyhow.” She kissed my cheek and I gave her that “deer-in-headlights” look, which only provoked a giggle out of her. “You’re adorable, I hope you know that.” She rubbed my back and stood up. “Come on, let’s not worry about that right now though. If you want I can make something for you to eat and we can get to know each other a little more.”

I smiled. Not necessarily the kind of thing that I had in mind doing this afternoon but it would be fun. “Sure, why not.”

Karena and I had spent the day together, and I had a surprisingly fun time with her, despite the fact that she was a girl and I wasn’t into that. I wish more dates went like that. Anyhow, she sent me home, but her night was far from over.

She grabbed the pager on the wall in her office and called for Basch to come down to her room before he was finished with his work to go home. And of course, Basch, not knowing what was going on, came down immediately.

“Oh, Karena… it’s been a while since I’ve talked to you. How have you been?” He stepped inside and sat on one of the chairs in front of her desk.

“I’ve been fine. It’s always nice to see you too.” She sat down in her huge swivel chair and spun around a couple times, almost forgetting what they had been talking about. But when she stopped she remembered what she wanted to say. “I want to talk to you about Grey. I heard you may have said or done something that might not have translated well with him.”

“I- This is about last night isn’t it?” He looked down and frowned. “He ran out on me, and I had no clue why. He seemed really… embarrassed by his body, and he could’ve just… said something, I would’ve left him alone if he—“

“He was offended by your appalled output on his scars.” She scowled at him. “You were completely out of line with that. And I want you to apologize to him as soon as possible.” 

Basch sat back, kind of looking away with a doomed look on his face. 

“And if you do anything to hurt him, and I do mean anything, I’ll see to it you’ll never do that to anyone again.” Her eyes narrowed on him almost evilly. “And I would hate to have to ruin you.”

Basch knew that she never went back on her word. It didn’t matter if you were her friend or not, unless you were something special, she would directly make your life a living hell.

“Do you understand me?”

“Yes ma’am I believe I do.”

“Good.” She smiled as if she hadn’t just threatened him within an inch of his life. “Now go on, go home and get some rest dear.”


End file.
